WW2 story: Why I have decided to plant bamboo on our agricultural land!

During World War II, the Soviet Union, despite being industrially underdeveloped, outproduced advanced industrial Germany in military machinery, particularly with the T-34 tanks. The Soviets produced 85,000 T-34 tanks compared to Germany’s 50,000 various models of Panzer tanks. Moreover, 80% of damaged T-34 tanks were repaired near the battlefield, whereas only 50% of damaged Panzer tanks were repaired, often taking longer due to non-interchangeable spare parts as each batch of Panzers was different and improved over the previous one.

Although the T-34 was inferior in direct combat against the Panzer, it compensated with faster production, simplicity of design, interchangeable parts, lightweight, and mass production.

How has the above knowledge benefited me?

For the past six months, I have been researching and contemplating which trees to plant on our agricultural land (400-500 trees on a 1-acre plot). I considered various trees, from slow-growing to fast-growing: Sandalwood, Teakwood, Mahogany, Eucalyptus, or Malabar Neem. However, each of these takes a long time to grow (7-20 years). The long production time poses a risk—will there be demand by the time they mature, or will they be stolen when ready (especially Sandalwood, Teakwood, Mahogany)? 

The above trees are like Panzer tanks. And therefore, I selected my T-34 - Bamboo. Bamboo grows quickly, do not require any special care and requires minimal attention. It starts yielding returns from the third year and continues to do so annually for the next 40-60 years. Over 30 years, its total income is nearly 80% of what you would earn from Teakwood or Mahogany. This is a great deal because it provides a steady yearly income with much lower risk, unlike the one-time large income that comes with significant risks. (Sandalwood is not considered due to theft issues)

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